We’ve done both Tokyo Disney parks when the kids were smaller (they were between 2 and 6) and they hated Disney Sea. It was raining, and cold (it was November, so the beginning of winter) and they were too small to enjoy it.

This time, we could afford one park only, so we gave them the choice and they chose Disney Sea. My heart kind of sank because of the previous sad experience but went with it.

This time, even though Coral’s small (4 years old), the other 3 are older (9, 11 and 12), so we could do almost everything. Raging Spirits was closed, but everything else on their list was done.

We chose a date that was green on all of the crowd calendars (green means empty, as empty as it gets) and it had a lot of people. It was like Disney World in May.

Toyville entrance at night and the Woody head is the entrance of Toy Story Mania

Getting to Tokyo Disney Sea by public transport

We woke up at 6 to catch the bus at 7. I don’t really know what happened, but we were kind of sleepwalking and it took us way too long to reach the bus station – when we got there, there was only the bus for 8:10. If you want Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror and Journey to the Center of the World, you really need to get there early (preferably before the park opens for Toy Story Mania).

We decided to go by train and it was a bad choice. We changed trains 4 times, including the Disney Monorail (paid separately). We reached Disney Sea at nearly 9 – the same time as the 8:10 bus. All the trains were full and we went all the way standing up, a bit squashed. Do check your transport (and make advanced reservations, whenever possible).

But it was worth it.

In the trains, we knew who was going to Disney because people really do wear their Disney things, be it clothing, accessories, Mickey ears, whatever. It was pretty fun to see. Groups of friends, family, and couples were wearing matching clothes and I found it just too cute!

The Park!

We reached there and we were just so happy and excited, we couldn’t stop giggling and running and being silly.

I had a plan carefully laid out and we did follow it (even though we started from the bottom) and it was great, we could even ride Toy Story Mania once more before we left the park.

The Bouncing Blowfish, in Mermaid Lagoon

Coral couldn’t ride Journey to the Center of the Earth (pretty cool ride that simulates a scientist’s trip to the center of the earth, of course. A mild rollercoaster) and Indiana Jones (fun but creepy ride that takes us to the scenes of the Indiana Jones’ movies), but she waited patiently outside the rides: use the child swap because they take you to the front of the line, not just the Fastpass line.

She loved the Mermaid Lagoon, where Ariel is, even though she didn’t see Ariel (we’d seen her in Disney World last year and she wasn’t impressed). We went to all the attractions there and they were Coral’s favorite place. She also had fun in Arabian Coast, with the double deck merry-go-round and Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage (a dark ride in a slow-moving boat that tells Sindbad’s story).

If you have little kids, these are the 2 places not to miss. You could also have fun on the Steamboat ride and the little Train ride, but they don’t offer much other than nice views, a little rest, and short lines.

We rode everything we wanted we got 2 well-placed Fastpasses for the only 2 rides with extremely long lines (over 1,5 hour). Toy Story Mania (great 3-D ride where you need to shoot pies, darts, balls at targets) and Tower of Terror (scary ride with a big fall) had their Fastpasses ran out before lunchtime, so we took the standby line anyway and they were around 70 minutes, the only long lines we had. We also skipped any Fastpass for attractions that had 30 minutes or shorter lines.

Outside Mermaid Lagoon

Melissa and Angelo went to Tower of Terror while I went with the little kids to ride the Steamboat and the train, and rested. It was a good choice since they said it was a lot worse than the Orlando version.

By the way, give time for the kids – and you – to rest during the day, so as not to get too tired and grumpy before the day comes to an end.

Around 11 am, we stopped for lunch. We were in the Arabian Coast, so we had curry. Coral only had popcorn. It wasn’t a really good curry, but it was OK, it held us pretty fine with the loads of popcorn we had. Really do have your meals before or after the peak time, because everything gets really full.

Speaking of food, we had the Toy Story Alien Mochi, the Mickey ice pop, and bread at the bakery before we left. The ice pop was OK, a bit too sweet and it melted so fast… The bread wasn’t the best we’ve had but the mochi was awesome! Try it!

The popcorns are a whole other subject! We bought an Olaf bucket and refilled it several times during the day. Most of them were pretty good and it was cheaper than other options. Though the food in Tokyo Disney wasn’t too overpriced, either, so if you don’t need snacks throughout the day, you might not need it.

The celebration of Tokyo Disney Resort’s 15th-anniversary boat

By 6 pm we were tired and Coral was really sleepy. We decided to have something to eat (the bread) and went once more to ride Toy Story Mania. When we left the queue, it was 8 pm. The fireworks had been canceled and, even though we could have stayed some more, we decided to go home. I picked Coral up and she fell asleep in a minute. We took the bus to Shinjuku Station, then the train and walked some more – she slept all the way and didn’t wake up when we put her in bed.

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

[…] lot of time there. It’s the only place in the park where they issue Yoyakunori, the equivalent to Disney’s Fastpass for free, a timed ticket that allows you to cut the line to a specific attraction. […]

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